The Rings of Power's Maxim Baldry has revealed how Isildur's season 2 showdown with Shelob was inspired by The Return of the King's movie adaptation.
Interviewed by TechRadar before The Rings of Power season 2 debuted on Prime Video, Baldry admitted he watched Samwise Gangee's own duel with the monstrous spider before Isildur's run-in with it.
In The Return of the King, the final chapter in The Lord of the Rings book and film trilogy, Sam faces off against Shelob to save an incapacitated Frodo from being eaten by Ungoliant's most famous offspring. It's a brilliant sequence that not only speaks to Sam's loyalty to Frodo but also his bravery in the face of a terrifying foe. Long story short: he succeeds in his bout with Shelob; the great spider fleeing after Sam inflicts three serious injuries on it.
One of those wounds – a piercing stab from Frodo's blade Sting, which Sam wields during the fight, into one of Shelob's eyes – is one such moment that influenced Isildur's skirmish with the massive arachnid. Indeed, as Baldry explained, Isildur inflict a similar injury on a much younger and smaller Shelob in his encounter with her in the Amazon TV series' second season; one that's actually visible during Sam's fight with Shelob centuries later.
"I remember reading the script for episode three," Baldry told me, "and it was like 'Isildur wakes to find that... he's in a spider cave... and it's the home of Shelob'. So, obviously, I immediately watched the fight with Sam [to seek inspiration], and there are some cool parallels between that sequence and our show. I end up stabbing her in one of her eyes, which Sam also does, but the eye she's now blind in is the same one she can't see out of in the movie. I thought that was a nice parallel between our adaptation and [The Lord of the Rings director] Peter Jackson's adaptation."
Who's ready for some exclusive interviews from #TheRingsofPower season 2 premiere? You are? Grand, here's clip number one, which sees @maximbaldry tell me which of the titular rings he'd like to own in real life (spoiler - his answer won't surprise you!) pic.twitter.com/iXRntX5WBhAugust 23, 2024
That isn't the only aspect of Sam and Shelob's battle that informed this scene in The Rings of Power season 2. In both instances, Sam and Isildur also repel an attack from Shelob's fangs and mandibles; the duo holding the great spider's jaws at bay with their bare hands. Oh, and let's not forget Shelob's classic pouncing move, which she performs on Sam and Isildur in their respective duels.
His one-on-one battle with Shelob is the first of many tests that await Isildur in one of the best Prime Video shows' sophomore seasons. Of course, The Lord of the Rings fans – diehards and more casual observers – know how Isildur's story ends, but the journey he takes to get to that point isn't really explored in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary literary works. The gaps in his page-based history, then, allowed Baldry and the show's writing room to hone in on where they wanted his coming-of-age arc to go in season 2.
"We had to reverse-engineer Isildur in a way," Baldry said. "We know where he ends up, but how does he get there? In season one, he's desperate to leave Númenor. In season two, he's a fish out of water. He has to learn how to survive and who he can trust, and come to terms with the fact he's been abandoned by his family and his home. That's a lot for someone to process and, as a result of dealing with that, he has to evolve as a person, which he does exponentially. He sheds this youthful exterior and becomes a man more in line with the mercenary and warrior that we know from the books."
Want to learn more about Isildur's journey this season? There are a few clues in my spoiler-light review of The Rings of Power season 2, which you'll want to read before you stream its first three episodes. New installments will air weekly, by the way, until the season 2 finale on October 3.
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